import files in obj, dae, ply

Question

I tried to import a obj file into Blender and could not do it. So I downloaded MeshLab and converted the obj to a dae file and still nothing happened. Nothing showed up on the screen and nothing appeared in the upper right corner- its a scene outliner type window (see pic)

Since those did not work. I converted it to a .ply file. That file appeared in the outliner but not on the desktop. So I spun on my mouse wheel and got the area super small and the file showed up.

How do i get the file back to the normal desk. It seems to have vanished altogether. Scrolling either way won't bring back the plane in the default window.

I created the character/object using this site, if it matters: http://cvl-demos.cs.nott.ac.uk/vrn/index.php

Answer 1

I tried to create and download a model from the link you posted in your question, and my OBJ is correctly imported (I used one of the sample pictures on the link). The object's vertices location is not convenient (as shown in your picture), but the pivot is on the world center, so to quickly translate the mesh to the center and keep the pivot:

• go to Edit Mode, and select all vertices
• press Shift+S and choose Selection to Cursor (Offset)
• then in Object Mode rotate and/or scale the object to position it as you prefer.

Anyway, the procedure to import the OBJ in MeshLab and export it to PLY format is a common practice, because PLY format keeps the Vertex Color data, while OBJ can't (so what you did is a good practice). So my suggestion is to use PLY format instead of DAE.

P.S.: When you see an object in the outliner, but not in the 3D Viewport, press the "." key on the numpad to quickly focus on the object without scrolling your mouse wheel.